Have we done this? Just seen a pic and it looks rather nice. Made in Cumbria.

https://www.borrowdalebikes.com/

“Made” in Cumbria, or “Bred” there?

I don’t need a new bike, but yum! I wonder if I’d fit their one size…

Who designs a hard tail mtb with only one set of bottle bolts?

I’m intrigued by how someone can come to the conclusion that a hardtail is the most appropriate mtb fir the lake district.

I’m intrigued by how someone can come to the conclusion that a hardtail is the most appropriate mtb fir the lake district.

Knowing the designer, I think he came to that conclusion because he lives in the Lakes and is pretty damn handy on a mountain bike.

No contact details, no price, scant details, general vagueness, homebrewed website.
Good luck, they’ll be needing it!

Looks nice though, just like my own three direct from China frames.

Simpson frameworks have started doing made in Kendal Ti frames if you want something that is truly hefted in Cumbria.

Borrowdale via Xiamen…looking at that manipulated chainstay I’d say it would be heading back to China too. Being ‘handy’ on a mountain bike doesn’t necessarily make you understand the intricacies of titanium fabrication and potential fatigue failure (been buying custom ti direct from China for 20+ years)

But buying a few from the Chinese does make you an expert?

But buying a few from the Chinese does make you an expert?

Neither does once being a designer for a company that made prosthetic limbs in titanium and carbon 🤣

Umm. Ok?

dovebiker
Full Member

Being ‘handy’ on a mountain bike doesn’t necessarily make you understand the intricacies of titanium fabrication and potential fatigue failure (been buying custom ti direct from China for 20+ years)

True, but that’s part of what you pay for when you work with a company to build frames for you.

IME the Chinese fabricators will make you what you ask for, whilst they offer warranties it is against their quality of manufacture not whether it is suitable for purpose. Having designed and tested numerous prototype titanium fabrications to failure, then any abrupt changes in section or shape creates stress-raisers and accelerated fatigue failures – we avoided them for a reason. IMO dimpling or manipulating a tube at one of the most highly-stressed parts of a frame is asking for trouble. A good case study are Litespeed frames from 20-odd years ago where in order to compete with lightweight aluminium alloys they went for highly manipulated titanium tubes and suffered alarming rates of fatigue failure.

Who designs a hard tail mtb with only one set of bottle bolts?

mines only got one set and I don’t even use them. Much prefer a bladder in a backpack. Don’t get the mouthpiece covered in sheep shit and oil. Not on trend I know.

“Who designs a hard tail mtb with only one set of bottle bolts?”

Everyone who likes long dropper posts (apart from the longest bikes out there that have room for two sets on the downtube)!

Hi folks,

Borrowdale is me (Max) and my friend Dan. We’re here as we couldn’t find the bike we wanted, and eventually curiosity got the better of us on getting involved in designing frames and sending them into the world. We’re taking things at our own pace and don’t have anything to hide: if you want to be kept up to date with where we are for the first batch of the Fellbred then there’s a form on the site to leave your details and we’ll be in touch. We’re also on Instagram and you can message us direct there. We’ve both got other day jobs so don’t sweat if answers aren’t instant.

The website is deliberately simple but we can see that people want to know a little more:

This has come about because I was looking for a dedicated mullet hardtail to ride in the Lakes and beyond. Looking around at the time which was 2020, there were plenty of great hardtails – Pipedream, Stanton, Kona, Cotic, Chromag, Orange, etc but back then finding one designed specifically around 650 rear, 29 front wheels was very hard. You can always bodge a smaller wheel in a frame designed around a 29 rear, or put 29 forks on a 650 frame but this is a compromise. I decided to get one made to my geometry and skip to the end here we are.

We were wondering what to call the frame and a friend suggested Fellbred – the strapline on the website followed. We’re comfortable to say that the design is ‘Bred in Cumbria’ as the selection of frame angles, shape, size is all mine and they’ve come about as I’ve mis-spent the majority of my years riding bicycles off-road in the Lake District.

The Fellbred is made in Taiwan by a great factory who were recommended by industry professionals. They’re nice to deal with – we sent them the geometry and they advised the tube profiles etc based on their vast experience of working with titanium.

Why Taiwan? Push and pull factors. Push: Talking to others already in the industry, if you’d like frames made in the UK and you’re not making them yourself then it’s hard to make the economics work. Pull: Taiwan are renowned as production titanium experts.

If that’s not your thing and you’d prefer UK made then there are plenty of existing options – there are even good options in Cumbria. Simpson Frameworks have been mentioned, they’re in Kendal making really nice looking frames and their blog is a good read. There’s also Sam at Manuka Cycle Works over on the west coast – Sam has amazing attention to detail in his builds. There’s probably more!

Why titanium? Practically speaking, they’re available to be made in small batches which for a start-up like us works well. Of course, the titanium ride quality is lovely, the raw finish looks great and a Ti frame saves pounds in weight over steel.

Why mullet? Frankly I just wanted one as it seemed to make sense. For steeps the smaller rear wheel is a little further from buzzing your butt. It’s easier to put a smaller wheel where you want on the trail. The bike corners very well whether the chainstays are slammed short or stretched long. All we can say is, we’ve ridden plenty of hardtails and are very happy with this one. It’s the nicest hardtail I’ve ridden and seems rather at home on Lakes tech.

Why not do this yourself? No-one’s stopping you of course. My understanding of a difference between you buying a one-off from China vs you buying from our production batch from Taiwan is that production frames are fully tested. That’s not to say anything against buying a one-off from China: everyone makes their own choices.

In this niche, bikes are simply a personal choice and no-one can make you buy one or the other. If you like the look of what we’re up to then great – if not then happily there are very many other options out there.

I hope that helps. I am happy to say that the reaction so far has been overwhelmingly positive 🙂

Max at Borrowdale

It’s like Ti version of my Starling.

Good luck with it Max, looks great

All very sensible, patient answers too 😁

Thanks 🙂

Looks nice and mullet makes sense for those steeper trails – my old 27.5 hardtail was great when it was steep, even when it was rough and rocky but the smaller rear wheel struggled more on flatter but still rough trails (hence my new hardtail is full 29).

Might be worth sharing the BB height (or drop vs whichever axle) – I know I’m very particular about it but I’m sure I’m not alone amongst hardtailers. And the main issue with mulleting a 29” is the BB dropping too low.

Lovely looking frame, and good luck with the venture. Always an admirer of those that build something from scratch as they couldn’t find exactly what they wanted (BTR owner here).

Thanks! There’s a full geo chart within the images on the site. The BB drop is 38mm with respect to the rear axle and 57mm with respect to the front axle. This was the hardest number to choose because being mixed wheels, there wasn’t the depth of previous experience to draw on. And of course like all geo numbers the BB drop could be +/- a couple of mm depending on the tyres you fit, even the tyre pressures you run. We think it works well on the trail.

Indeed, best wishes for that bike. Pics when you can 😎

Good luck with it Max.

Think the simple website is fine…nothing available to buy yet so a teaser and bit of info and option to be kept informed, what’s not to like?

Will give your insta a follow!

Looks really nice Max, certainly one to keep an eye on. Out of interest do you have a ballpark timescale as to when these will be arriving?

Also, do you have the measurement for the effective top tube on the 475?

Thanks

Cheers all 🙂

The effective top tube for the 475 is 638.

Ballpark timescale – honestly no, but now we’ve seen such positive reaction we’ll work harder on working it out! I’d rather give no answer than make it up.

“There’s a full geo chart within the images on the site”

Aha, I hadn’t spotted that, on my phone it only shows the first few photos unless you keep swiping past them.

“The BB drop is 38mm with respect to the rear axle and 57mm with respect to the front axle”

This seems very well chosen! My old 27.5 hardtail (modded Zero AM) which was a bit shorter (440mm reach, 420mm chainstays) had 48mm BB drop which was great fun some of the time and too damned low when I wasn’t having such a good day.

My new 29 hardtail (Moxie – 460mm reach, 425-441 chainstays, 160mm forks) has 58mm drop and it’s perfect, low enough (actually really low compared to a lot of older bikes) but not so low it requires perfect timing on natural trails. It’s only ~10mm higher (tyre radius ~19mm more, but BB drop only 10mm more) but it’s enough to solve the downsides without losing the upsides.

Good luck with your project, hope it works out!